Saturday, 30 July 2016

Entropy

"We expect order
in our lives and if we are unlucky we will achieve this, but at what cost?"

Entropy,
all is entropy

Some folk
confuse entropy with energy. While entropy and energy are interrelated like a
first cousin marriage they are not strictly equivalent or sexually compatible,
but that's another story.

An increase
in 'disorder' is the natural progression of nature. Things, unless injected
with energy, tend toward disorder. Or in other words, objects obey the natural
progression of causal events and tend to decay. We call this concept, entropy.

If we accept
that 14.7 billion years ago our current universe burst forth from a cosmic big
bang, and most physicists conform to this view, then the initial state could be
described as 'low entropy'. In fact this would have represented the lowest
entropic state of the universe there has ever been. Since then universal
entropy has been steadily increasing. Just as a main spring in a watch slowly
uncoils, so the universe 'winds down' to eventually reach a state of stasis and
maximum entropy (perhaps not). This will not occur for a very, very, long time,
if at all.

But entropy
is not just a concept for very clever physicists to ponder upon. We can observe
entropy in our every day lives. A dropped glass starts with low entropy
however, when it shatters on the floor its entropic state increases. The old
state of low entropy is irrevocably lost. While it is not truly impossible to
reassemble the component pieces to the original state of low entropy, the
energy required to do this would require entropy to increase elsewhere.

Living
organisms are a perfect example of how entropy works. Life exists at a constant
low entropic state. But this state is unnatural and can only be maintained with
a constant injection of energy provided by the dissolution of ingested food, in
most animal species, at least. The food items consequently undergo an increase
in entropy- there is truly no such thing as a free lunch. Increasing localised
order (low entropy) will invariably cause a corresponding increase in entropy somewhere
in the universe. Once we die entropy is no longer restrained and consequently runs amok.

Actually disassembly,
over time, is not necessarily the only configuration predicted by physical
laws. The second thermodynamic law is usually defined in terms of entropy however,
it can also be couched in different terms. It is actually a consequence of
statistics. There are more (a lot more) disordered states for any system than
ordered. Therefore, it is possible that a broken glass could spontaneously coalesce
to its original low entropic state without violating the laws of the cosmos
although such an occurrence would only occur with an infinitesimal probability.
A probability so low as to render it a virtual impossibility.

Could it be
that time's arrow is just a manifestation of entropy? Entropy defines change in
systems. And if we do not measure the forward march of time in terms of change
in our physical world, then how do we measure it? This necessarily encroaches
into the philosophical domain. I don't want to consider the 'nature of time'
here as it is incredibly convoluted and complex and has occupied the smartest
minds for over 2,500 years. Perhaps another post, if I can be bothered.

Entropy
should not be taken as a measure of the disorder in my own chaotic life. That
takes a lot of energy and work. Mayhap I've achieved an acquired sense of
equilibrium. Or as I like to call it: 'A refined state of ignorance and disarray'.

Can't help but notice that this is the fourth 'sensible' post in a row. Either the medication is taking effect or I'm turning into a sensible old scrote (Arse). Take your pick.